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Sunday, December 14, 2008

a question for the immigration lobby

One thing that I keep hearing over and over again is that we Catholic are supposed to welcome illegal aliens becuase they are such devout Catholics and will help the Church in America. Okay....... since it's often priests and nuns who deliver these lectures I've remained silent. But this week Playboy magazine released the December issue in Mexico. It is blasphemous and insults the Blessed Virgin. Heard any news stories about massive protests? Has Playboy been forced to recall the issues? Has Hugh Hefner left his crypt to publicly apologize? Have Mexican men cancelled their subscriptions in massive numbers? Nope. So, come again with another illegal immigration excuse becuase the devout Catholic one has worn way thin.

We are supposed to welcome the stranger in any case. We're not welcoming them because they are Catholic but because they are human. No one is saying it's right, but if any of us were in their situation we don't know whether we'd do the same thing. If a job to support your family is on one side of the fence, and destitution and drug violence on the other, where would you go?

There's no easy answer, and there's no 'excuse' per se. All I mean to say is, their collective Catholicism isn't the reason we should welcome them. But it certainly doesn't hurt.

Well, what do you say to the person staying home and waiting to enter the country legally? Sorry, but because you waited to be legal, you go to the end of the line and this person who came in illegally goes ahead?

Surely there is all the difference in the world between welcoming the stranger and pandering shamelessly to the whims of illegals? What is "Catholic" about the latter, especially when a great many American citizens in the current economic crisis are either jobless themselves or facing joblessness in the near future?

Of course, we know why the American episcopate wants illegal immigrants by the million. After all those sex abuse payouts it has had to make in recent times, it needs new laity in its pews - hitting the collection plate - as a matter of urgency; and it isn't at all scrupulous as to how it acquires such laity.

The late Sonny Bono had it about right, I think, as does Mrs. Dymphna: Bono said, "What is it about 'illegal' that they don’t understand"?

Illegal immigration is not an easy problem to solve. Call them criminals, go ahead. In one sense you're right--yes, they broke the law. But doing so is a very narrow viewpoint. You have to look at this issue as 1) yes, they broke the law let's treat this accordingly AND 2) what would cause people to immigrate illegally in the first place?

With regard to #2 the answers are obvious. Drug cartels and a poor economy (worse than ours for sure) are tearing up Mexico and a lot of Central and South America. The US looks bright and rosy compared to that, and you know what, it very well may be. Does that justify breaking the law? Of course not. But it gives PERSPECTIVE which is necessary to deal with the actual problem.

Want to stop illegal immigration? Defeat the drug cartels and enhance the South American economy. Most say in response to that: "we have too much to do at home in the US, it's not our responsibility to 'bail out' Mexico or any other country." If that is the case, we have no reason to complain.

In the meantime--last time I checked, Jesus forgave criminals. (Repentant ones, of course.) It isn't too much to ask that we have compassion. (Compassion isn't always deserved.)

I agree with Catherine Lucia. Maybe it's because I've witnessed and felt (despite being a U.S., born citizen to naturalized citizens) the incredible discrimination first hand, and (being Hispanic American) feel solidarity with the rest of the Hispanic community, that I have the same point of view. Yes, if it might illegal for them the way they've gotten here, but you can't deny that they've contributed a lot to the country. Most of the laborers in the fields are honest, hardworking immigrants who just want a better life for their family.

And if you want to talk about "why don't all illegal immigrants go back to their home countries?"... well, unless you're a Native American -- your ancestors all came to this country illegally as well.

There should be no discrimination towards ANY human being, especially over something as insignificant as their nationality and/or race.